The Gynecologic Oncology Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center is a very unique cancer treatment center. We bring mainstream targeted therapies, including minimally invasive robotically assisted surgery, together with natural holistic healing in order to help you thrive in survivorship.

It takes a personal team to fight a complex disease like gynecologic cancer and help you support your body and mind during the treatment and into a thriving survivorship. At the Gynecologic Oncology Institute(GOI), that is our model of care.

We believe integrative medicine, which synergizes the best of Western and Eastern care philosophies, is the best approach to whole-person (holistic) care, including oncology as well as complex gynecologic problems. GOI is here to help you with advanced endometriosis, pre-cancers and benign but very bothersome conditions like large uterine fibroids or ovarian masses.

From prevention, through minimally invasive robotic surgery, through personalized therapy inclusive of molecular targeting technology, nutrition and complementary support of mind-body, we are here for you.

New Patients

If you’re facing a cancer diagnosis, you should certainly take action quickly. But before you make any treatment decisions please contact us to see the unique range of high-tech and holistic medicine options you have. Make an Appointment

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Current Patients

We provide a comprehensive range of integrative natural support services to help patients and their loved ones cope with cancer treatment. We also help those who need endometriosis excision & advanced pelvic gyn surgery.Patient Services

Unique SECOND OPINION at Gynecologic Oncology Institute !

Personalized Gynecologic Cancer Therapy Center

Everyone is different and unique. Every cancer is different, not just based on what organ it came from (e.g. ovary), but also at the genomic and molecular level. Both you and your cancer ALSO change over time. So why be treated like “everyone else” with the same old treatment plan?

Cancer Treatments Designed Uniquely For You

Cookie-cutter “one size fits all” medicine will soon be history. You owe it to yourself to discover the difference. Science-based cancer therapy combined with a personalized approach is the 21st century way to treat malignancies. It’s the ultimate way to optimize your chances to beat cancer and includes the very best of 21st century surgery, Western and Eastern medicine. Come see us: Survive and Thrive!

Our approach is very detailed and complex and is, by definition, very individualized. We take “personalized cancer therapy” and survivorship to the next level, as follows:

Primary Cancer Prevention and Cancer-Proofing

Cancer is partly genetic, but also largely related to lifestyle choices. In general, you have a large say-so in whether or not you get cancer. Screening and lifestyle choices modification goes a long way towards avoiding many cancers.

Molecular Assisted Screening and Risk Reduction

Today’s screening is advancing at a rapid pace and involves cutting edge molecular tools. It is appropriate for some, but not for all, depending on your risk. In some cases, like Angelina Jolie, risk reducing surgery can be lifesaving. All of this is highly individualized to you.

Gynecological Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery

Today’s surgery is far less invasive, even for bigger or more extensive gynecologic cancers which normally require large incisions. Minimally invasive surgery allows you to recover faster, get back to life quicker or get to the next phase of treatment (when required) much faster. For pre-cancers or extensive benign diseases, like advanced endometriosis or complex pelvic masses, robotically assisted surgery can make all the difference towards fast recovery.

Molecular Tumor Profiling and Precision Treatment

Cancers are different from organ to organ, body to body, one point in time to another and from one area to another. This is all based on the genomic alterations or mutations that occur in cancer cells, which change over time and from one tumor to another. Techniques called next-generation sequencing (NGS) or molecular profiling can look for mutations that can be attacked precisely using the newest biologic agents. Testing can be done on tissue or blood (liquid biopsy), and usually both. This forms the basis for personalized treatment plans for cancer.

Molecular Nutrition and Biome Profiling

Anti-cancer nutrition and optimization of your microbiome is central to “cancer-proofing” your body as much as possible to prevent cancer or even reducing the risk of recurrence. Everyone is different but, in addition to a baseline optimization of your nutrition and microbiome, there are science-supported strategies that are based on biomarkers and genetic polymorphism analysis.

Complementary Natural Holistic Support

Integrative holistic medicine takes the best of natural and complementary support modalities to help reduce symptoms caused by disease, help get at the root cause of these symptoms and help you survive and thrive through treatment and far beyond. From nutrition to acupuncture, targeted supplements and herbals, mind-body techniques and much more, supporting and enhancing your disease-fighting ability is crucial to your success in beating any debilitating disease, including cancer.

Cancer Recurrence Risk Reduction Planning

After treatment is over there is much you can do to proactively enhance your mind and body to fight off disease and do everything possible to ward off recurrence. So, if your current post-treatment plan is “watchful waiting” with tumor markers and scans, you need an opinion at the Gynecologic Oncology Institute. Discover the difference!

Surgeon: Gynecological Robotic Assisted Surgery

Keyhole minimally invasive surgery, which avoids large incisions, is highly enhanced using robotically assisted technology. It makes the surgery far more precise because instead of straight instruments, which make instrument movements during surgery “herky-jerky” and imprecise far too often (similar to a novice eating with chopsticks), robotically assisted surgical instruments are finely controlled to avoid anything but smooth motion. In addition, the instruments have joints at the tips (like a hand and wrist) making them far more flexible for precision delicate surgery. Finally, the surgeon’s vision is magnified and in 3D, making the anatomy of the surgery much more clear. All of this translates to the ability to perform complex surgery safely and precisely, minimizing complications and optimizing healing.

Robotic surgery excellence for advanced cancer and endometriosis surgery demands far more than robotic training and certification. That’s the kindergarten level. Experience matters in getting the result you want for difficult cancer surgery, re-operative surgery (multiple prior surgeries) and endometriosis excision surgery. It is not a matter of just how many cases the surgeon has performed but also how difficult they are. You can rest assured that Dr. Vasilev has more than 30 years of experience in advanced radical surgery, and has taught hundreds of physicians-in-training (residents and fellows) in precision radical techniques and surgeries deemed impossible by other surgeons. For almost a decade he has been using this advanced skillset using minimally invasive robotic surgery technology. The results can never be guaranteed but often can be nothing short of miraculous, combining radical yet meticulous surgery with 21st century robotic surgery technology and small incisions.

Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery

For both benign and malignant conditions surgery is often the fastest, best or sometimes the only route to cure. When this is the case, large incisions are usually no longer necessary. Using 21st century robotically assisted technology it is possible to avoid long healing times and accelerate recovery. Faster recovery, less blood loss, and usually much less tissue damage is the result of this highly precise robotic surgical approach.

DaVinci Surgery Hysterectomy

Tiny incisions, often hidden below the bikini line and in the belly button, replace unsightly incisional scars in performing a hysterectomy. A few of the additional incisions may be visible but are the size of a pencil eraserhead and can heal in a way that they can be almost invisible. This less painful, rapid recovery, quality of life-preserving and body-image-preserving approach is availble for cancer and endometriosis surgery at the Gynecologic Oncology Institute. The surgery is done through small incisions and, in the majority of cases, the uterus can be removed via the vagina.

Robotic Endometriosis Excision Surgery

Endometriosis surgery can be more difficult than cancer surgery (due to intense scarring) and, in a significant percentage of cases, endometriosis can actually degenerate into or be associated with gynecologic cancer. When this happens it is usually later in life, but it is best when your surgeon can handle whatever is required during surgery. Experience matters and level of skills are critical. Today’s gold standard for endometriosis surgery is robotically assisted minimally invasive excision of endometriosis as part of an overall treatment plan which includes medical/hormonal treatments. While simple laparoscopy can accomplish the same result in skilled hands, this is generally only true with less advanced endometriosis. Many argue this point, but robotic technology is inherently vastly superior and allows meticulous endometriosis excision under magnified 3-D view with instruments that are more like tiny little hands rather than straight scissors and graspers reminiscent of clunky chopsticks. The number of incisions can be very similar or exactly the same in skilled hands. For advanced endometriosis excisional surgery the Gynecologic Oncology Institute stands among the best under the leadership of Dr. Steven Vasilev and his team.

Advanced Robotic Surgery in Gynecology

Robotically assisted minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery has many gynecologic applications. If you have rapidly enlarging fibroids, a suspicious ovarian mass or cyst, diagnosed cancer of the uterus, cervix or ovaries, endometriosis or other gynecologic surgical conditions, the Gynecologic Oncology Institute may be a good fit for you. Dr. Steven Vasilev MD is a surgeon with over 30 years of experience and, with his team and colleagues, can help you with surgery that offers the fastest possible recovery and the results you want. We specialize in bringing minimally invasive surgery to help heal difficult gynecologic conditions, including advanced cancer and endometriosis.

Robotic Surgery Recovery Time

Studies show that recovery from minimally invasive surgery is much faster in terms of going home faster, getting back to your routine quicker and healing better with less external and internal scars. While this is true of laparoscopy as well, robotic surgery is performed with less torquing of the instruments at the muscle of your abdomen and less ripping and tearing internally. This means less pain and less tissue damage, which means healing is optimized. It’s all about recovery, to get back to life or the next phase of your treatment as soon as possible.

Oncologist: Gynecological Cancer Therapeutics

There are many guidelines for best cancer treatment, based on many studies involving thousands of patients. These days, that is just the baseline because science is accelerating so fast it is making today’s therapies rapidly obsolete. Our understanding of actionable genomic alterations in cancer is bringing new biological and immuno-modulation therapies to bear on the fight against cancer. These are far more targeted than basic chemotherapy, which is still the cornerstone of therapy but even this can be better targeted using molecular analysis of tumors and blood. Discover more…..

Precision Medicine Oncology

Molecular Cancer Treatment Center

DNA Cancer Treatment

Cancer Genomics

Anti-Cancer Molecular Profiling Targeted Maintenance Therapy

HIPEC Intraperitoneal Cancer Treatment Program

Heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy is fast becoming a standard of care option for treatment of advanced malignancies, including ovarian cancer. We are finalizing our program at Saint John’s to bring you safe high-tech state-of-the-art HIPEC. It will be available by mid-year 2018, which means if you have been diagnosed recently, this is an option for you when combined with interval cytoreduction surgery. Our cytoreduction approach is often minimally invasive using robotic technology and avoiding larger incisions.

Hyperthermia Oncology

Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy

HIPEC Ovarian Cancer Success

Indications for HIPEC

Holistic Medicine Practitioner: Integrative Healing

Maximize your chances to defeat your gynecologic cancer and/or reduce your risk of recurrence using our unique combination of standard therapies integrated with complementary holistic natural support towards a thriving survivorship. The goal is to “cancer-proof” or “anti-cancerize” your body as much as possible. Basically, this means making your body as inhospitable as possible to cancer growth, while using all available targeted precision therapies to interfere with cancer promoting pathways.

Cancer Prevention

Integrative Oncology

Cancer Nutrigenetics

Cancer Nutrigenomics

Nutrition and Cancer

Microbiome Analysis and Management

Mind Body Cancer Care

Integrative Cancer Recurrence Risk Reduction

After surgery and/or cancer treatment the goal is almost always to cure or at least promote good quality-of-life remissions, measurable in years. Having faith and a good attitude is important, but simply hoping the cancer will not return is not a good strategy for recurrence prevention. There are many natural approaches to cancer-proof your body to reduce the risk of recurrence as low as possible. In addition, there are biological therapies available for some cancers that also reduce risk of recurrence, or at least delay recurrence for many months or years.